Department of Visual Arts / University of California, San Diego
The Urban Regeneration of Al Nasserya
Lecture by Cristiano Luchetti
The Sharjah Department of Planning and Survey and Sharjah Urban Planning Council have recently started independent initiatives to explore and propose ways by which deteriorated neighborhoods can be enhanced. The mandate is to maintain the existing housing stock (structurally intact ones) and propose enhancements to the public realm and social infrastructure of those areas based on the needs and specificity of each neighborhood. One of the mandates is to find ways to attract Emirati families back to these neighborhoods without necessarily displacing the existing population.
The Urban and Architectural Design Studio ARC501 Section 3 at the American University of Sharjah, first investigated through mapping, surveys, and fieldwork the existing conditions of Al Nasserya, thereafter proposed innovative solutions grounded on the findings of the research. Students looked for alternative means of intervention other than conventional approaches with a focus on sustainability. They had the freedom to identify the scale and brief of their proposals - whether it would be a block or the whole neighborhood, or a single building along with the surrounding affected public realm.
View of the pavilion of the central park (day), Al Nasserya Urban Regeneration / Central Park, Mariama Kah, American University of Sharjah, 2019, Sharjah, Image courtesy of Mariama Kah.
View of the pavilion of the central park (night), Al Nasserya Urban Regeneration / Central Park, Mariama Kah, American University of Sharjah, 2019, Sharjah, Image courtesy of Mariama Kah.
Longitudinal section through the park, Al Nasserya Urban Regeneration / Aquacare Machine Park, Akhila Girijan & Aashika Shibu, American University of Sharjah, 2019, Sharjah, Image courtesy of Akhila Girijan & Aashika Shibu.
Aerial view of the park, Al Nasserya Urban Regeneration / Aquacare Machine Park, Akhila Girijan & Aashika Shibu, American University of Sharjah, 2019, Sharjah, Image courtesy of Akhila Girijan & Aashika Shibu